https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english-to-dutch/other/611045-clean-someone-s-plow.html

clean someone\'s plow

Dutch translation: iemand een hengst geven

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:clean someone"s plow
Dutch translation:iemand een hengst geven

02:03 Jan 14, 2004
English to Dutch translations [Non-PRO]
English term or phrase: clean someone\'s plow
'What did you do? Threaten to clean her plow if she let another calf get past her?' says one cousin to another when a girl who comes to help throws herself on top of a calf when it tries to get by during branding.
Small town in Oklahoma
Maria de Valk
iemand een hengst geven
Explanation:
is toch enigszins agrarisch, niet? ;)
Selected response from:

Björn Houben
Belgium
Local time: 08:21
Grading comment
Dank je wel, leuke vondst!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4to whip or defeat her (trash her; beat her up;
Miriam Linschoten, PhD (X)
4 +1iemand een hengst geven
Björn Houben
3een bolwassing geven
hirselina


  

Answers


36 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
to whip or defeat her (trash her; beat her up;


Explanation:
according to the Old West slang dictionary
to clean his plow: to whip or defeat him
http://djstexasstateofmind.homestead.com/OldWestSlang.html

Clean his plow --To thrash somebody, same as "clean his clock"
http://www.mit.edu/afs/net/dev/user/tytso/usenet/americast/l...

clean his plow: beat up in a fight
http://www.geocities.com/marshalslimchisum/lingo.html

clean his clock/plow)
I had personally never heard "clean your plow" to mean "to thrash" or "to trounce." But I am old. Just not rural.

The plow usage appears in print in 1919. To "clean someone's clock" doesn't make it into print until 1959, although the guy was writing about WWII.

I surmise it to be an extension of "to clean" =meaning "to drub or vanquish" which LIghter cites in use form 1818. You could also since 1812 "clean" someone in a gambling or theft sense.
http://pub122.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm4.showMessage?to...





Miriam Linschoten, PhD (X)
Local time: 01:21
Native speaker of: Dutch
PRO pts in pair: 235

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Teresa Reinhardt: beat up
3 mins

agree  moya: beat up
3 hrs

agree  Kate Hudson (X)
4 hrs

agree  AllisonK (X): think it's a play on 'clean her/his clock' - oops,just saw you wrote that too!
4 hrs
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
een bolwassing geven


Explanation:
Niet gemakkelijk om een vertaling te vinden. Iets agrarisch kan ik niet bedenken. Misschien "een bolwassing geven" om "to clean" te bewaren? Anders: "een pak slaag geven", etc.

hirselina
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench, Native in DutchDutch
PRO pts in pair: 331
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9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
clean someone's plow
iemand een hengst geven


Explanation:
is toch enigszins agrarisch, niet? ;)

Björn Houben
Belgium
Local time: 08:21
Native speaker of: Native in FlemishFlemish, Native in DutchDutch
PRO pts in pair: 201
Grading comment
Dank je wel, leuke vondst!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mirjam Bonne-Nollen: leuk gevonden!
5 hrs
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